Frozen Past
by Adaon
Summary: Trowa pulled out his phone and dialed the number of the preventers head, Ma'am, I suggest you get down here immediately. I just found out what happened to Heero Yuy. disclaimer, I don't own gundam wing
1. Past Tomorrow

Chapter 1: Past Tomorrow.

A.C. 195 – War against Oz

A.C. 196 – Mariemaiauprising

A.C. 197 – Heero is pronounced missing

A.C. 223 – present day for the story.

A/N, I'm not entirely sure what inspired this story, but it sounds pretty good in my own mind so I thought I would give writing it a shot. Unlike most of what a write Heero and Relena will not be getting together in this fic for reasons that will be apparent at the end of the second chapter.

-----

A lot happens in twenty-five years. For Trowa Barton he was now a father, and deputy director of the preventers. The job was a pretty good one, he was in charge of personal assignments. Ever since the birth of his son five years ago he had retired from field duty.

Currently he was in a meeting along with the director of the preventer organization, Lucrezia Merquis. Normally, that wouldn't be a bad thing, but it was the topic of the meeting that caused a dark mood to settle in. In short, there was a new hostile group. They were missed by the preventers for one simple reason, they were preventers.

It was treachery in the worst way, and it ran as deeply as one of Relena's personal security guards charged with the graveyard shift. He along with at least five other preventer officers were in league, to kidnapped Foreign Minister Relena, and the president, and vice president. In one swift effort they had brought the executive government to a standstill, and without Relena's calming words and presence, panic was breaking out. The best analysts gave their opinions, rescue or replace the president in the next 24 hours. The speaker of the house, next in the line of succession was currently missing, with no word on his whereabouts. That left the President pro tempore of the senate, A war veteran who was extremely eager to declare martial law and restore order. Nothing was looking very promising at this moment in time.

Then came the suggestion they were all thinking, but no one had wanted to be the first to bring up. Twenty years ago, pilot 01 had set up for the preventers a series of fail-safes to ensure they could continue to operate in almost any scenario. He had prepared things so throughly, that descriptions of possible situations were left behind, and included instructions on what fail-safe to use in that instance. This scenario qualified for the activation of contingencies 'Chi'. The fail-safes were classified using Greek letters, Chi, Psi, and Omega were the most drastic of scenarios. The present situation certainly classified.

-----

The dungeon, as it was affectionately known was the basement of the preventer headquarters. It's security was tight, almost as tight as a Las Vegas casino vault, almost.

The purpose of the basement was for contingencies of any type, it could withstand the building above being ground zero for a massive explosion, the air was filtered and recycled so that it could be completely sealed from the outside world, there was a standby medical facility to handle almost anything, and then there was the things most people weren't supposed to know about, and probably wouldn't want to know about.

Heero Yuy used his extensive knowledge massively destructive weapons to give the preventers some aces up their sleeve if something unforeseen were to happen. Only a handful of people knew it existed, even fewer knew the kinds of things that were in here. And no one knew what exactly it was Trowa Barton was about to turn loose. The only one who would know what it was, hadn't been seen in twenty years.

'Chi' looked like little more then a storage crate. It was contained within a vault, that like the rest of the area, looked like a where house for storing paperwork. No one could find what was here unless they knew what they were looking for, and since no one did, it was never found. Trowa approached, and opened the door to this vault for the first time in twenty-five years. The first thing he noticed was the drastic drop in temperature. It was at least 15 degrees colder inside. Trowa approached a large metal cylinder, he reached out and touched it, then quickly brought back his hand that was burned by the cold. To say the least, Trowa was really starting to wonder what was hidden here. So without further delay he went to the small computer console, and entered the code that would activate whatever 'Chi' was. After the code was entered, chills went down Trowa's spine, and it wasn't from the block of ice that he could now see, it was from the message given by the computer.

"Beginning thaw of cryogenic freeze subject: 01. Time remaining: 2 hours."

Trowa pulled out his phone and dialed the number of the preventers head, "Ma'am, I suggest you get down here immediately. I just found out what happened to Heero Yuy."

T.B.C.

-----

Next time:

"Heero, are you all right?"

"Trowa? Yeah I guess, but what are you doing on L1? I thought I had covered my tracks to well."

"L1?"

"Yeah I came to see Dr. J and..."

"Heero does this area look familiar to you?"

"I assume it would if I could see."

"... You can't see?"

"Apparently after being frozen it takes a little while for everything to start working again, but what are you going on about anyways?"


	2. Some Understanding

Chapter 2: Some Understanding

A/N, I guess I wasn't clear with Heero's explanation in that little preview, he isn't blind, his senses just haven't fully recovered yet. He will be completely back to normal physically at the end of this chapter.

Thank you for taking the time to review,

lost-remembrance I haven't read any zoids fanfiction so I don't know anything about any similarities.

Kate Maxwell, Can I please get 24 hours to update before I'm evil? Please -

-----

"Cryogenic Freeze subject should now be alert." The computer announced.

Trowa stood taking full stock of the situation, Heero, who hadn't been seen or heard from in over twenty years was now sitting in a chair in front of him, and he looked like he was still twenty years old. As the ex gundam pilot began to stir Trowa broke the silence.

"Heero can you hear me?"

"Trowa?"

"How do you feel?

"Remember that time I warned you about what dieing felt like? Let's call that 'the warm fluffy time.'"

Trowa couldn't help it, he broke down down and started laughing, Heero joined in for a few chuckles before asking, "How did you find me anyways?"

"Find you?"

"I know I didn't do as through a job as I normally would for covering my tracks, but still how did you find J's lab?"

"... Heero, does this area look familiar to you?"

"I assume it would if I could see."

"... You can't see?"

"Apparently after being frozen it takes a little while for everything to start working again. I should be fine in a little while, but what are you going on about anyways?"

"... Heero, your on earth."

"Earth? Where?"

"The basement of the preventers building."

The look on Heero's face went from one of slight curiosity to one of deep concentration. Then that look gave way to one of anger, "Where is the old coot? When I get my hands on him I'll hang him by that stupid mustache of his."

"I'm afraid, 'the old coot' is gone Heero."

"Someone beat me to it?"

"Heart attack, seven years ago."

"Hn. .... Wait a minute, seven years ago!?" Heero's face was turned to look directly at Trowa with total bewilderment on it that Heero was to stunned to even try controlling.

"Heero, I'm afraid you have been locked away in that block of ice for some time." Trowa's tone was very somber. While outside he was presenting a calm solid image, in his mind he was franticly trying to piece together pieces of this puzzle. Heero was angry at J, did that mean Heero hadn't done this willingly? And it was then Trowa realized, Heero really had no idea how long he had been out. Trowa took a deep breath to ready himself to say what he had to. "Heero, the year is after colony 223."

There was nothing but silence in the air, or at least it seemed that way. Trowa watched as Heero was thinking through that statement, and all of the implications.

"223?"

"Affirmative."

"233? It can't be. Trowa, tell me your not serious." The look on Heero's face, was almost pleading.

"I'm sorry Heero, but it's true."

"25 years... I've been gone for 25 years..."

"Heero, I know this is a lot to get your mind around, but we need your help, the current situation is pretty bleak."

"My help? I don't know what I can offer you Trowa, Ordinarily I would have known what the problem was before it happened, but now I'm completely clueless as to what's going on."

"Heero, Relena was kidnapped, along with the president and vice president. Their guards were part of a conspiracy, currently they've made no demands, but we are facing a desperate situation here."

"Hn. I understand, I'll do what I can but it will probably take a few hours before I am fully functional again, it would help if you could brief me on the current situation for now."

At first Trowa simply nodded, the realizing his companion couldn't see it vocalized his agreement and began the briefing.

Relena had served through every administration in the same post, She held a great deal of sway with people, but she rarely used it. She was mostly a calming voice in times of trials, which likely was the reason she was a target for this current coup. Their short term goal seemed to be getting the president pro tempore of the senate as the head of the government expecting him to declare martial law, throwing the world in chaos and strengthening their position. Heero periodically nodded to confirm what Trowa was telling him.

"Alright, what do I have to work with?"

"In terms of intelligence, little, I have a team going over everything we have on those guards, right down to how they take their coffee, but that hasn't turned up anything of value yet. Weapons aren't all that different but you might want to visit the firing range to get a feel for them. Personal is going to be a little tricky. I don't think we have anyone that can really keep up with you."

"What about Wufei, is he still with the preventers?"

"Yes, but he hasn't done field work in years, he just trains preventer officers in martial arts now."

Heero chuckled lightly, "I'm surprised he ever let himself be taken off field duty."

"... Heero, he's over 40 now."

Heero closed his eyes and lowered his head, "just give me capable people who can follow orders and we'll work the rest out. What is the time frame?"

"We can't leave the presidency vacated, Senator Barnes will be sworn in tomorrow."

"If he's that much of a concern, why not convince him to pass over and let someone else in?"

"Aside from it being very questionable legally to exert that kind of influence, he wants it, he wanted to run for president but couldn't get his party's nomination. This is his big chance and he doesn't want to pass on it."

"Hn. For now the best thing would be getting the intelligence, I can work out the kinks in a team but I need to know where these people are."

"I'll so what I can Heero, but this whole plan was extremely well executed, too well really."

"Hn. For now could you please get me to some quarters? I need a shower and a nap before I'll be much good to anyone."

"No problem, and Heero, It's good to see you again."

"Please, ... don't do that."

"Do what?"

"Make it sound so distant, Trowa I just played pool with you last week, at least from my perspective."

"...I'm sorry Heero, but this is going to take a lot of getting used to."

Heero said nothing more, but in his mind there was one burning question. What would happen when he saw Relena again?

---

That's all for now, Kate, I hope that makes up for the cliffhanger last time. As of the next chapter Heero is back to normal.

Also wbout Wufei being over 40, that's not a knock on him, the point is that that anyone the preventers have wouldn't be able to keep up with the level of skill Heero has.

Next time: Heero gets a full briefing on what's been happening.

Thanks for your time.


	3. Coming Together and Drifting Apart

a/n so a couple more things, first after rereading chapter 2 I messed up on Wufei's age relative to the story

A.C. 195 – War against Oz

A.C. 196 – Mariemaia uprising

A.C. 198 – Heero assumes a normal life

A.C. 200 - Heero is pronounced missing

A.C. 233 – present day for the story.

crystal-gundam, I'm sorry but no it's not, it's going to be a past 1R, but to make up for it I'm also working on another story that will be 1xR.

Melodyrasnake, here you go.

Mellie and Pink Delusion, thank you both, I think you've reviewed everything I've put on here. I'm honored.

music gundam, I'm revealing the details of that bit by bit, but most of the answers are coming in the next chapter.

Kate Maxwell, sorry about the length, I'm not a very long winded person, this is about the longest thing I have written to date (it will be the longest when finished) Also I want to say thank you, you seem to have a head start on where I'm going with this and I appericate that a lot, it makes me feel better about what I'm writing.

Chapter 3: Coming Together and Drifting Apart.

---

The preventer deputy chief Trowa Barton approached the instructors window that overlooked the firing range. It allowed the chance for instructors to watch students while they weren't aware, giving them a better idea of true performance. The reason Trowa was here was to see the man that was overlooking a random group of recruits that were here practicing in their free time. "What are you looking at?"

"Since I don't have enough knowledge of the current agents in the preventers to hand pick a rescue team I came here to get a pool of candidates."

"The firing range, what is that going to tell you?"

"Take at the one in range 9, notice anything odd?"

"... All his shots are clustered on the neck, why the neck?"

"That's his fourth target sheet, he's picked a different area each time, and made his shots from various positions."

"I see, I'll have to remember that, I assume you want them on your team?"

He nodded.

"I'll approve any team you come to me with, but they need to be volunteers for this mission, ... then again I doubt you'll have much problem with that."

Heero gave no response as he continued to watch over the range.

----

"Daniel Weldon." The recent graduate of the preventer academy turned from analyzing his target sheet, the voice was unfamiliar to him, but the face was unmistakable to any member of the preventers. The deputy chief was known as responsible for most of the duty assignments for the top graduates. Weldon himself had not been high in his class, but his marks were respectable. Nothing had really made him stand out at the academy so he was surprised to see director Barton, to the point where he hadn't even noticed the younger man, about his age, that was standing beside the deputy chief.

Weldon was taken aback to be addressed by someone that important, and couldn't help but let a little bit of a stutter seep into his voice. "y... ye-ss..ss sss-irrr?"

"I trust you are aware of the current alert situation."

"yy-yy e-ss sss-sirrr."

"This man is the commander of the rescue operation. He has requested to have you on his team, but joining is strictly on a volunteer basis, understand?"

"y-yy e-sss ss-sirr."

"Good, I'll leave you to it." Trowa gave a sharp salute then left the room.

Weldon let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding, then promptly gasped in surprise when he noticed the 'commander' who was currently glaring at him, "forget it."

"Sir?"

"Forget it, I'll find someone else."

"But, wha-?"

"You don't have enough control."

"How would you know you neve-"

"You just panicked in front of the man who can make or break your carrier, I can't risk trusting you on this assignment."

"You are passing judgment based on 5 sec-"

"And what didn't I see? What is it about you that didn't show up up in those seconds that should change my mind."

Weldon's head lowered as if to concede, but he was going to add one last statement, "My father was a Teize faction solider who got refuge in the Sanq Kingdom during the war."

"Good, don't forget that motivation."

Weldon looked up, and bewildered. "sir?"

"I need three things from the men on this rescue team 1)skill, I watched your target practice. 2)resolve, I was testing you to see how much you wanted this. 3)obedience."

"Obedience sir?"

"You follow my orders above all others, If i tell you to shoot your left hand, I expect you to do it. Do you have a problem with that?"

Weldon snapped to attention, "If it means getting the vice foreign minister back, no sir."

---

The entire preventer organization was working at a near frantic pace on every lead remotely related to the missing government officials. But one conference room was very quite, 8 men, who weren't there, were reading mission specs, that didn't exist, to go on a rescue mission, that wasn't going to happen. It was classified to say the least.

"They didn't pick this base on accident, it was a staging point for rebellious activities against the alliance, specifically the specials, before the A.C. 195 war. It's well designed, well built, and undoubtedly well equipped and armed. It's weakness is it's strength, being a garbage dump for the colonies, it gets constant traffic at all times, there is no such thing as suspicious activity. We're taking two shuttles, the first one is for the rescue, the second is for if the mission fails, the attempt needs to be immediate with no chance for the terrorists to prepare."

The door opened and closed quickly and quietly as Trowa entered the room, his presence immediately picked up on by four of the rooms occupants. Who then turned back to the briefing. "Why not focus our efforts on one rescue mission?"

"This has to be done with speed and surgical precision. It only needs five, if the first wave fails, the second should be able to accomplish the mission."

"Based on what sir?"

"The expectation that if the first five fail, it will be a very costly win for the terrorists." Heero's voice was as flat as Trowa had ever heard it during the war, seeing the faces of the four other men who just had been told they might well not be coming back alive, they all nodded in agreement to the unspoken question they had been asked. They were committed to this to the end. Trowa felt he shouldn't be surprised, he always knew Heero had that effect on people.

The briefing continued on and when it completed, the 8 hand selected operatives left to sleep, they were to leave in the morning, and if they so much as yawned on the shuttle, Heero would throw them out the air lock to prevent them from being an obstetrical on this mission. They had taken his threats surprisingly well, but they all had their reasons for wanting to rescue either the president or vice foreign minister, Heero had made very sure of that.

Now only two were left in the room. Trowa had stood to leave, But Heero was leaning against the wall, standing between him and the doorway. "You didn't come to wish my team well." It wasn't a question, the statement boarded on an accusation, and Heero's eyes which looked like they were staring into Trowa's soul, told the tale that the solider was not happy with his comrade's presence.

"I wasn't aware my presence in your briefing would be upsetting to you."

"You didn't come hear just to listen to my briefing, your planning something and wanted to know the details of my operation."

Trowa looked away, it was confirmation enough for Heero. Who promptly grabbed Trowa by the throat and held him off the ground pinned against the wall. Trowa's eyes widened in surprise at the actions

"Do not, for even a millisecond, think about getting in my way. What are you planning?"

Trowa didn't answer, but he had regained his composure and began to defiantly stare back at Heero. Who responded by increasing the pressure on Trowa's neck. "I won't repeat myself."

"W..et ...team... twenty... follow you in... clean up..." Trowa was unable to finish as the pressure was stepped up again. "

"You can have your wet team, but they don't go in with my team. They stay well back and only go in if I fail, which I won't."

Trowa had reached his breaking point with Heero, he had been willing to put up with things, but only to a point. He couldn't risk the fate on the ESUN on any one man, even if it was Heero. He reached behind his back to pull the firearm he always kept with him. But the movement had been noticed by Heero who grabbed Trowa's wrist and slammed it into the wall, the crack before the gun was dropped from Trowa's limped hand was unmistakable to either man, but Trowa would not admit to the pain and kept his emotionless face trained on Heero, who now had let up on his grip to where it was just enough to hold Trowa up.

"Don't get in my way Barton, I'm as capable as I ever have been. And if any of your men get in my way on this mission, I advise you not to be here when I get back."

"You're taking this personally." Trowa made a last effort to appeal to Heero's reason, Heero wasn't thinking with a clear head, and that jeopardized the entire effort.

Heero let him down to eye level, and then moved in to stand nose to nose with Trowa. "If I hadn't let my guard down 25 years ago, she wouldn't be where she is today. I made a mistake in trusting Jay, who I thought I knew. If you think I'll trust any of you, who apparently I don't know any more since time changes people, and are the same people who failed to prevent this in the first place, you're delusional."

Heero released his grip on Trowa and began to leave the room. "Oh and Trowa, if you ever try to pull a gun on me again, it won't be your wrist I break." The door closed behind him, and Trowa began to wonder if he had done the right thing by letting Heero out now, and if there would be any stopping the pilots rage if something went wrong.

Which for everyones sake, Trowa hopped didn't happen. And he hopped it was the right thing not to tell Heero the one piece of information he had kept to himself, and was so trivial to everyone else, they wouldn't even think of bringing the subject up.

---

Next time: The rescue is on, and Heero finds out what Trowa has been hidden from him.

a/n The end of the next chapter is where things start getting angsty for Heero. I thought about revising this story so that it doesn't end up that way, but it really wouldn't fit in so I'm going to stick to the original angst driven idea.

However I'm working on two other things right now, first the next part of mythbusters which should be coming up tomarow. And a new story I've been meaning to start that has a happier ending.

Thanks for reading.


	4. The rescue, and secretes revealed

A/n To anyone following this story, sorry, I thought I had already posted this chapter.

Frozen past, The rescue, and secretes revealed.

--

There were no sounds to be heard. The engines were cut, the shuttle was slowly drifting into position. The men were silent, each a professional they honed there focus on the mission. There was a job to be done, a job that must be done, there were no room for mistakes, or failure.

Clank, the shuttle was in position now, five men departed the shuttle, two headed to secure the armory, one for the control center, one to the holding cells. In timing synced to the tenths of a second, each group arrived and fulfilled their task. The weapons of

the armory were put out of commission, the control center was secured to prevent any alarms being raised. And the rescue of prisoners was completed without fail.

From the control center, all systems were shut down, preventing any interference in the escape. The five returned to the shuttle, took there positions, and the shuttle departed. The signal was also given to the preventer team to move in and secure the base. In the

sleeping area of the shuttle, minor wounds on the rescued prisoners were being healed, while the rest of the team was debriefing on the bridge, except for one other member.

Heero Yuy was at a window staring at the stars. To an observer he would almost appear lost, but in his own mind, he was gathering himself, preparing for the inevitable conversation. And constantly he turned the thought over and over in his head, just how much had she changed in 25 years? A question that wouldn't be answered until he saw her again, which led to him wondering what she would be like, and again his thoughts had traveled full circle.

---

a/n Just to be clear, Heero secured the command center. Two reasons why: 1)It's the most dangerous job, and he certainly was the most qualified to do it. 2)It was the most critical point of the rescue plan, by shutting down the base, they rendered the enemy incapable of perusing the shuttle. Also, I know this would have been better with an actual rescue scene, but that's well beyond my meager writing skills.

---

He sat in the lounge of the shuttle, nursing a cup of coffee while watching the stars pass by. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering back to that topic, but he was grateful for the distraction the stars provided, if even for just a few seconds.

He was aware of the footfalls outside of the door, he always was, but he didn't react. It was his experience people were more at ease around him when they didn't know he was in constant threat analysis mode. The footfalls belonged to a male, tall, one of the preventer officers who had come on the mission with him. As the door opened Heero caught the reflection of Weldon.

"Sir, I have communicated our success to preventer headquarters, Deputy Director Barton sends his congratulations on a successful mission."

"Hn."

"Sir... permission to speak freely."

Heero simply nodded, preferring not to break his silence of words.

"You look lost, is everything alright?"

"That Mr. Weldon, is far more loaded question then you could imagine. How are our guests doing?"

"Minor injuries, just what you would expect. We already had the president send a message to the cabinet so they don't allow him to be removed under the 25th amendment. ..."

"And?"

"Well sir, I don't know what to do about the foreign minister."

"What's the problem?"

"It's just- how do you tell a women her husband was killed?"

The only sound that filled the room was the shattering of a coffee mug.

"Sir? Weren't you aware her husband had been killed in the kidnapping?"

"... I was not..." Married?

---

The door to the room slowly opened, Relena was standing, looking out at the stars as the shuttle glided it's way through space. She had told the preventers to leave her be for the remainder of the flight, she thought for a moment of turning around and dismissing them, but then something came over her... something familiar, correction, _very_ familiar.

"Something about you, even though you drop off the face of the earth, the moment you are back something seems to tell me when you are around. What brings you back Heero? It takes a crises before you can bring yourself to be around me?"

"...It's not like that." How do I even begin this conversation?

"You don't show yourself for over twenty years-"

"I wasn't my choice-" I have to tell her, I have to convince her.

"Then who's exactly was it? The Heero I remember didn't like anyone making choices for him, You wouldn't touch one thing my chief ever made if you didn't have a say in what it was."

"Relena... Please turn around." Just one look, that's all I need.

"No."

"Wh-" She has to, she has to...

"I said no. There isn't anything more to say." Yes there is! Look at me! Listen to me! Please give me some hope!

"I'm not even worth the time for you to look once?"

She was silent.

"please."

Nothing.

No sounds disturbed the silence of the room until Heero turned and left. Relena then let out the breath she had been holding.

---

If you saw Heero Yuy, you wouldn't really notice a change in his deminor, indeed there were only slight changes from his normal behavior. But there were just the slightest tell tale signs, his hand was gripping a cup of coffee harder then normal which was applynig abnormal stress to it. But one thing that never changed about Heero Yuy was his awareness of what was happening around him, such as the rookie preventer that had been standing at the room's entry way for the past 3.2 minutes.

"Mr. Weldon, are you actively seeking to annoy me?"

"N-no sir, it's just I have a report."

"Then report it." Get this over with, get this whole lousy mission over with.

"Y-yes sir. Our ETA is 20 minutes, and commander Barton wants you to report immediately upon arrival, and to give our guest their privacy until we arrive."

"Hm. " Oh you'll see me all right Barton, count on it.

"Sir?" He's still here?

"Go about your duties."

"And the orders sir?"

"Follow them, be sure our 'guests' are not disturbed." He knows even if that order got here on time I would ignore it.

"Aye sir."

"What else?"

"Permission to speak freely sir?"

A slow, begrudging nod was given. I know I'll regret this...

"It's just, well I can't figure you out."

" 'figure me out?' " What's the point of trying, I can't even figure out anything right now.

"Yes sir, I mean it's like you've got years of experience even though you aren't much older then me, the deputy commander of the preventers has some measure of fear about you, and all the experienced officers of the preventers were passed over for this assignment to bring in someone that no one seems to know anything about. It puts me a little off when I don't know anything about the commander I'm working under."

"Hn." What's the point of any of it? Secretes, lies, there's been enough of it for one day.

"Sir?"

"What I'm about to tell you is classified, at least I assume it is." If not the preventers are run even worse then I thought.

"Classified sir?"

"I was a solider during the last war."

"But-"

"I was frozen in cryogenic stasis to keep me from aging."

"I thought that stuff was was just for sci-fi novels." Weldon who had been generally curious was now thoroughly confused.

"It has several theoretical complications that I don't know how the scientists got around." I'd love to ask J about that, after I broke his legs for doing it in the first place.

"but- what happens now, I mean do they just freeze you again?"

"I haven't been released before now."

Weldon's look of confusion quickly switched to one of shock. "You mean for 2-"

"Yes."

"But-"

"That's all for today, return to your post."

With a look of disappointment, Weldon saluted, "Aye aye sir."

---

Next time, Heero has it out with Trowa. The end is in site. Only one more chapter to go.


	5. The Final

The shuttle landed and it's occupants filtered out. Most, those who had been rescued, were taking to the infirmary to be checked over. The crew, minus one, went to a standard debriefing. The remaining, the mission commander made his way to the office of one deputy director Barton. Outwardly, he was calm and collected, but walking at a brisk pace. Inwardly, he was ready to take Barton's head off.

As he walked down the hallways, he passed one room, a sort of entertain/vip room. He didn't have to see in to it to know what was happening. The armed guards outside were a pretty good indication of who was in it, if the female crying was not enough to give it away. His paced slowed as he walked by, he wanted to go in, just to hold her, promise her she would get through it, remind her she was strong enough. But he shook his head and continued walking, realizing he had forever lost his place in her life, she had bee crystal clear in telling him that. _I hope you don't, but one day you will probably find out the truth of what happened to me, I just wish I meant enough to you for you to give me a chance first. Goodbye Relena. _

Continuing his way down the hall, he thought over what he would say. This feeling was one he was unused to, betrayal. The advantage of not letting people get close was that they could never let you down, but he had let people get close. There was Duo who practically shoved his way in, was the braided man aware Heero was back? Most likely, it would be uncharacteristic of Trowa to withhold such information, when he felt someone was entitled to know, he told them, and Heero's return was information all of the pilots would be entitled to. According to the records Heero had found, Duo's business had been successful enough to expand it with an earth branch, that Duo now ran himself just a few miles out of town.

Wufei, he surely knew, according to his (classified under "top security") file, he was training preventers at the base Heero was currently in. That meant the Chinese man had passed on dozens of chances, on an almost daily biases to speak with his fellow former comrade.

Quatre, probably had more details then anyone, he would get more information out of Trowa. And it was Quatre's efforts that were keeping everything together behind the scenes. There had been pressure, heavy pressure, on the cabinet to invoke the 25th so the new president could be sworn in, but Quatre bought the preventers the time they needed to do their job. Almost every politician in the E.S.U.N. owed some amount of favors to Quatre, and he had to call in most to keep things settled. Quatre was on earth, he did most of his political meetings face-to-face, and he was staying at the preventers base. The blond, like the rest of them, was avoiding him.

Zechs had been killed in a shuttle accident, Noin and their son now lived on earth. Noin took over as director of the preventers upon Lady Une's retirement 10 years ago.

Then there was Trowa himself, from Heero's perspective, his attitude made no sense. He had kept Heero at an arms length, not trusted him with anything more then basic information, and even undermined his authority by giving his subordinates secondary orders to be sure Heero behaved himself, not that Heero was supposed to know that, but like always, he did. Barton was the one Heero had expected to understand, the others he could only hope, but Trowa's logic was probably the most similar to his own. Yet still, even he seemed to be untrusting of Heero, as if he had done something wrong.

But for the moment, Heero had to push emotions and expectations aside, he had a job to finish. _But, there's no reason I can't do it on my terms, he more then owes me that._

Arriving at the secretary's desk for Trowa, Heero stood there while she finished a phone call.

After she hung up she started typing on her computer, then acknowledged Heero, "Your name sir?"

"Heero Yuy."

"And your business with the Deputy director?"

"Mission commander debriefing."

"I'll see if he's-"

"Tell him when he wants it he can meet me in the gym, and he should bring boxing gloves."

"I- I beg your pardon?"

Heero didn't reply, he just walked off, leaving the shocked secretary with nothing to do but pass on the message. The result was a shattered coffee mug and a few random curses, Trowa took it rather well really.

--

The gym at preventers headquarters would make any gym rat weep for joy, it had everything. There was a 25 meter pool, free wights of every reasonable level, every workout machine you could possibly need, a half track (200 meters) indoor, a basketball court, tennis court, general purpose rooms. And then there was the boxing ring where everyone in the room was gathered around, watching the 3rd agent in a row get dealt an embarrassing defeat in under three minutes. Yes Heero had found something to entertain himself while waiting for Trowa to show up.

About 10 agents were looking on, now a third agent was being helped out of the ring. As Trowa approached he could hear various bets and dares being made, but he couldn't care less. There was _no one_ in the preventers that was going to undermine his authority. He had worked hard for years to get everything running smoothly, the agency was a finely tuned machine thanks in part to him. Heero Yuy was a threat to that order, he was fighting against all that hard work, and something had to be done.

One by one the crowd fell silent as they saw who walked in. Trowa was certainly no stranger to the gym, but there was one big difference, he was usually in before anyone else at about 5 am with Wufei. And should anyone else show up during that session, they had nightmares about the looks they received. It was understood, you didn't hang out in the gym when Trowa was there, he didn't want the crowd. Him walking in made everyone feel uneasy, and unsure what they were supposed to do, until he spoke. "Dismissed."

The agents had varying degrees of bewilderment displayed on their faces until one got the courage to speak up, "Sir?"

"I said 'dismissed.'" He was leaving no room for discussion, he just kept his eyes locked on Heero, who was holding his own to say the least in their staring contest.

Slowly the agents started to filter out until in just a couple minutes, the two men were alone in the room. "I belive I mentioned you would need boxing gloves."

"Yuy, I don't know what kind of game you think you are playing-"

"No games, you want a debriefing, come and get it."

"I am the deputy director of the preventers, you are-"

"Not in your chain of command. I never took a job with the preventers, all my missions were and are freelance. I don't owe you anything, but if you want to know my post mission report, there are some gloves on the bench over there."

"As the deputy director, I'm not going to result to something childish just to get a report."

"Then I just won't talk to the 'deputy director' loose the uniform and lets see what you've been doing with yourself for the past twenty years."

Maintaing his defiant/authoritarian gaze leveled against Heero, the form of a shirtless Trowa Barton was now displaying the years of dedication he had put in to it. His muscles were solid, sculpted from a life time of training. "I spar almost daily, when was the last time you were in a serious fight?" He asked climbing in to the ring.

"Long enough." Was the only reply as Heero moved his glove in a "come and get it" motion.

"About that report."

"You have to land a punch first."

"I'm not hear to play kids games."

"You have two choices beat it out of me, or give me something I want."

"You have five seconds to convince me this isn't a huge waste of my time."

"I got in to their files while on the mission, I know every mole they have."

"Holding back that information is obstruction of justice. Now what is this 'thing you want'?"

"An answer."

"To?" Trowa began circling around his opponent. A lifetime of experience, a rhythm, he knew he had an advantage here over Heero, but Yuy was young and strong, and probably faster as well. It would not be an easy match.

"Why?" Heero remained mostly still in the middle of the ring, holding up his gaurd

only turing to keep Trowa in front of him, but not moving his position.

"If you want a straightforward answer, I would advise you to ask the same type of question." Trowa stopped moving right and quickly doubled back to his left, bringing his right arm in for a shot to the head, Heero moved, causing the blow to be just a glancing one.

"They only have two moles left, Tim Burton, works as a steward in the presidential residence which gives him access to the president's schedule." Heero made a couple of half harted jabs directed at Trowa's face, but they were easily blocked.

"And?" Trowa was still moving about, looking for the misstep, the fault, the weak point he could exploit. More jabs were thrown, none having an impact, they were all designed to test his opponents limits.

"For the and, you have to give me something." Heero wasn't cracking, his defense remained solid, but he still wasn't showing much offense, a few retaliatory jabs now and then kept Trowa from trying something a bit riskier.

"Like what?" Trowa faked a jab and came in with a left uppercut, but Heero had moved to the side and dealt a quick jab that threw Trowa off his balance, and he was on the ground again.

"You've kept me at arms length the entire time, when I was picking my team, running training, mission planning, you were looking over everything I was doing and second guessing it. Why?"

Trowa got back up and returned to a fighting stance, but he had stopped circling Heero and was now locked in more of a staring contest then a boxing match. "I have a job to do, I oversee almost everything the preventers does. This mission was as important as they come, peace, our government, everything was on the line. I have a responsibility-"

"To confront me about your concerns, not look to undermine me by getting members of my team to report to you."

"Is that why you cut those two out?"

"Yes, I won't bring people with divided loyalties in to a combat situation. The moment you went to them, my authority became questionable to them."

"I told them they were to follow your orders as any other commander."

"But to report those orders back to you, you were giving yourself a veto power over my decisions, that undercut me with them, that damage is irreversible. Cutting them forced me to re shift personal on the mission, it dropped our success probability by 5."

"You didn't report that."

"That wasn't important, the mission was too import to set back. And my plan still had the highest probability of success."

"That's my ca-"

"No it wasn't, you gave me the responsibility for this, then kept trying to oversee everything, you owe me an explanation for that."

Trowa was silent and started moving around, putting in a few jabs, taking advantage of his longer arms to stay out of Heero's reach, but the blows just missed or had little effect because of the range.

"Or rather, let's cut to the heart of the matter, at what point did I loose your trust?"

Trowa paused for a moment when he heard those words, and just a moment was all Heero needed to land a left hook that made a solid connection, and promised Trowa a nasty black eye in the morning.

"I wouldn't have picked you for this mission if-"

"You would have picked me regardless because you knew I would go with or without your approval. But we aren't talking about your confidence in my abilities, I'm asking at what point you stopped trusting me."

Trowa picked himself up, outwardly he wasn't showing any emotion, but he was fuming that he hadn't landed a good hit yet, Heero was almost toying with him. And hitting a little to close to home on some of his commentary. Regardless of what Trowa felt, there were things that didn't need to be said to a man like Heero. "The other mole?"

"Kyle Johnson, the President Pro Temp or the senate's chief of staff. If he had been sworn in as president, Johnson would have become the president's chief of staff. Now you."

Trowa carefully studied his opponent. Looking for anything he could exploit to gain the upper hand. "When you up and left twenty years ago." That caught Heero off guard, Trowa took full advantage landing a right cross that sent Heero right to the mat.

Heero was in no hurry to get up, he just stared at Trowa. "I told you from the start J-"

"How could J force you in to anything? Why were you even there in the first place."

Trowa took off his gloves and headgear. "I'm done playing games. If you can follow orders, the preventers certainly could use you, but if you are looking to go rouge whenever you feel like it, don't waste my time." Trowa walked towards the ropes and was about to climb out of the wring, until a hand, rather forcefully pulled him back in, to the point he fell back on the mat again.

"We, are not done here."

Trowa stood back up and took a street fighting stance, "Unless you are prepared to get hurt over this, yes, we are." Trowa already knowing Heero's answer rushed to get the early advantage, but Heero knew it was coming and sidestepped it. Trowa ready for this had already turned in to launch his next attack. He lifted his left leg to hit Heero with a kick, only to find his right leg swept out from under him by Heero who had gone under the kick.

"I had no idea, or say, in what J was doing."

Trowa flipped over to put Heero on his back to start landing punches, but Heero grabbing his arms and flipped Trowa back to the ground. "I had-"

"Just spare me." Trowa thrusted out his legs to push Heero away. He was knocked back and Trowa charged forward to follow through, seeing Heero going low to knock his legs out again, Trowa flipped over top of him and landed behind, and landed a roundhouse kick to Heero's side.

"You seem as about as interested in what I have to say now as when I was an ice cube."

"It didn't exactly take you long to get back to that did it?"

Heero stopped, and blinked disbelievingly "are you- do you- you think I want to go back to that stasis? You think I wanted that in the first place?"

Trowa moved forward and grabbed Heero by the neck, bring him back down to the ground, where speed could no longer favor Heero. "There isn't anything J could to do get you to come to him if you were unwillingly."

"You actually think I would rather be that ice cube? Or it that just what you would rather have me be?" There was no answer, Heero's eyes widened momentarily, before all emotion, anger, surprise, all of it was erased. Now Heero was no longer holding back, He pulled the hands off his neck, and forcefully brought them together so he could grip both wrists with his right hand. Trowa looked on with disbelif and the sheer power Heero was displaying, he knew Heero was stronger then he let on, but this... He didn't get to finish that thought, A strong left handed punch interrupted all thought and sent him reeling to the mat once again. But he knew the pain of a hard hit, and rolled through and quickly got back up on his balance, charging again he tried to take Heero by surprise by launching a direct frontal assault, no trickery this time. But again Heero saw through it, and just landed a strong right uppercut in to Trowa's diaphragm, taking all the air out of his lungs.

The fight was over, and Trowa collapsed to the ground.

"So you don't trust me? You really think I intentionally left?" There was no answer, Trowa was out cold. Heero got out of the ring and started towards the doors.

Almost there he stopped, and only half turned his head back around, "You'd rather have me as an ice cube? All of you would?"

He continued walking. He stopped right at the door.

"Fine."

-----

_Hello Dr Po, or I suppose I should say Chang now, but old habits are hard to break. You are probably wondering why you are receiving this message, the answer is two fold. First, I needed to say it to someone, and second, I know you'll respect patient-Dr privilege even if you have decided to hate me as well._

_First, the others are going to think what they think, don't bother correcting them, it's probably easier for everyone this way. There was a reason I went to see say 20 years ago, it actually had something to do with a comment you made to me after I took a psychical, you told me I was in perfect health for someone a few years younger then me. It may sound strange, but that comment made me rethink a few things. I came to a strange conclusion, I wasn't aging._

_More precisely, I was not aging at the normal rate, Based on the trends as I analyzed, When I was age 30, my body would have aged to 24. At 40, my body would be age 27. At 60, well I think you get the general idea. The point is, I would be middle aged while everyone else was dieing of old age around me. While in the perfect solider program, I was subject to many genetic experiments and modifications. The reason I went to see J was to find if there was any way to reverse what was done to me. Now he is gone, as are his notes, and I've already lost 20 years to everyone. If I stayed, if I made an effort to correct them and earn a place in their lives again, It would be torture for me, to watch the friends I knew fade away while I was still in the prime of my life. In some ways, I consider this an escape from that torture. _

_When I next come out of the cryo-freeze, no one will be left, and I will start a new life with no connections to the past, moving on every few years so that no one notices my slowed aging. The reason I tell you all this, is so that there are no attempts to either revive me, or recreate the cryo-freeze. J designed the process so that it would only work with a body that has the traits mine does, someone else entering that freeze would never come out of it._

_I know I am asking a lot of you, first to believe me, then to keep it to yourself as I've asked. But this is for the best, and I think of all people you may be the best at seeing this._

_I don't blame the others I suppose, they never really _knew _me well enough to trust me. Ever since I came out of the freeze for the other pilots, yourself and Noin, you never saw me, I was never real. I don't think it ever sank in for anyone what I happened, yet I can't help but feel the frustration of everyone I knew turning their backs on me. Relena is heartbroken, I wouldn't expect her to wait twenty years, two years, or two minutes for me. I was glad for what we had, but part of me always felt she could do better. I hope she was happy for the years she had with her husband, and I hope she will move on and find happiness again._

_It's unfair of me to dump all this on you, but I had to get it out, and I thank you for listening. I hope you are paying careful attention because you only get one shot at the following. I have enclosed a formula, it was a vaccine I was given to drastically boost my immune system, and it should be enough to prevent Wufei's alzheimers, or at least severely cut back it's effects. It will be visible at the end of this message for exactly one minute, if you miss it, it will be lost forever. I destroyed all of J's work that went in to making me._

_I ask that you keep messages from me if the subject is ever brought up to you: if the others ask, I didn't hate them. If Relena asks I could never be angry with her. _

_And I have one last thing to ask, keep a small record of me in the database, in another 50 years, I'll be released from the cryo-freeze. Let your successor know, and have them pass it on. When I come out of it, I will help the preventers, or whoever needs it. This is the final act I can give to you and the ones I would still call friends, I only wish they had been able to call me the same. Good luck Sally, I wish you the best._

She spent the next minute carefully writing and reviewing the formula that had appeared on the screen. After that minute it was gone, the formula, the message, everything. Even though he hadn't asked, she knew there was one more implied request, that the formula only be used once. The formula was too complex to remember, she would make it once, then destroy her copy. She owed that to him, and she would be forever grateful for his parting gift.

Later, there would be time to reflect, time to ponder over what had occurred, but for now, her duty called. And she supposed, so did his.

A/n Really, this isn't how I envisioned writing the final chapter, but somehow when I got here, this is the direction it went. I picked on poor Wufei on the end there for this reason, even at 40 he would be capable of performing field duty, the alzheimers, which Trowa is covering by putting Wufei on training duty, is the reason he was no longer in the field. It had not set in yet, just the very early stages.

I am really amazed at how a couple of the reviewers saw exactly where this story was going. (with Heero going back in to the freeze). I do have an idea for an epilogue that would be set when Heero comes out, but I'm not sure I'll get to that. This story did kind of loose me as it went on. I had it written in my mind in one day, and as I went along, I realized how inferior what I was writing was to what I had originally come up with, because I couldn't remember all the details. That saps my motivation to write, but I am so thankful to those of you who were following this that I was determined to see it through to the end.

Thank you for your support, and I hope you will check out my next story, Going for Broke. Currently it is on my LJ, friends only, posted in segments. Once chapter 1 is finished, it will be posted to 


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